I’ve start juggling and it’s super fun.
1 Like
I have a few rules, which are subject to modification as time goes on:
-
Before buying sell something, not necessarily 1 in 1 out, sometimes 3 out 1 in, or 2 out 3 in, the main idea is to reduce redundancy. A recent example is selling DT and ARmkI and buying ARmkII.
-
Do I have a specific need for the new shiny thing? Most of the time the answer is no as I try to choose my gear carefully to do what I need in the first place.
My achilles heel here is samplers, there currently isn’t one that does all that I need, because I don’t use a DAW samplers have to fulfil many DAW roles in my setup, limitations are great but frustrations are a buzz kill, so at the moment I have a lot of samplers, I’d much rather just have a couple that did all that I need though. -
Never get anything on credit, no matter what, if I can’t afford it I don’t buy it, if it an expensive item then I sell something else and/or save up. Debt is stress.
-
Having a small room really helped me, and more importantly committing to a layout so that everything has its own place and is well organised, patchbays, labelling - makes the idea of changing the setup unappealing, so all the more important to get it right initially, I’d say I was 90% successful, but tweaking I can handle.
-
An oldie but a goodie - watch videos of gear you already own occasionally and when GAS strikes.
-
Remember that in the first 6 months most gear nowadays has bugs, and most gear reduces in price after 6 months, early adoption is for suckas and “pro” youtubers.
25 Likes
Omg #6. Never again new. Plus delayed gratification is something sorely missing in this hyperconsummerist world.
6 Likes
cant say ive seen anything out of namm thats given me mad gas. that said it is nice acquiring a new gear and working your way through it. i think that intrigue part of it is what it is for a lot of people - wanting to understand how something works as much as making music with it. even in the buying and selling process much is learned, about synthesis, techniques, approaches, sound, etc. it’s a fine line between intrigue and being overwhelmed, at least it is for me and what I see as a worthy buy. at the moment im kinda in limbo with an itb setup but it is nice watching from a distance without any intention to buy. something always comes around and it’ll be nice to drop a pre-order when the time is right
2 Likes
This is a huge one. I used to buy gear on tick all the time and it does add a layer of stress or, at least, give an excuse to sell.
3 Likes
No 6. Remember that in the first 6 months most gear nowadays has bugs, and most gear reduces in price after 6 months, early adoption is for suckas and “pro” youtubers.
Most. But if you know your stuff you can find stuff that retains its value or even increases after a few years. This is why you should research before committing.
My number one question when considering buying new gear (and other stuff) is:
Do I have the time for this? Or can I make time for this? Will I take the time to learn it? Will I enjoy the time to use it? Does is speed up my workflow? Can I create more music with it? etc
Today the most valuable resource is time. The choices between great affordable gear are getting bigger and bigger, but you will never get your attention back. So I want to choose wisely how I spend my time.
7 Likes
OFF TOPIC
This one thing I’ve been considering. The new one is making me consider the original. However, I use my laptop a lot. My laptop has everything on it. What benefit would MPC Live bring? I’m genuinely curious.
ON TOPIC
I totally agree. I remember not too long ago when the minilogue came out it made a noise. It was crazy. A new synth! Now Korg releases one yearly and I don’t think they’re stopping soon. Same thing with other companies of course. It’s as if companies realized that there is a new market that is willing to spend and buy gear yearly.
I also understand the pleasure of buying a new instrument and toying with it. It can be a good pass time and it doesn’t have to be your job if that’s what you want. But as an aspiring musician, it does make me anxious a bit. Like trends are moving really fast there is no sense in catching on anymore. The new hot thing will be old in months.
Honestly, I decided for the most part to stick to my laptop. There is already an insane amount of things to learn on it. I recently bought Digitone and Zoia. Was really excited about them at first, but haven’t touched them.
1 Like
I bought most of my stuff because of the everlasting chase of the perfect workflow.
Away from the computer mouse.
I feel the guilt a lot when I don‘t use my stuff.
Fortunately I followed the 1 in 1 out rule quite strictly.
While I felt some kind of love for some machines (mainly my elektons), cause they are just fun to use, I get most of my enjoyment in music making by creating and finishing whole tracks. In christmas holidays I sat down with my laptop and ableton and finished a bunch of tracks in a few days, tracks I‘m really proud of. I recognized that after several years of using hardware I‘m still most skilled in ableton, I work faster, I finish tracks, I don‘t have to set up hardware and record audio from hardware to computer. It‘s just less hassle for me. Moving knobs all night is fun, finishing stuff and listening back to it even more for me.
So I‘m about to sell most things even though I have to admit some nam releases don‘t leave me cold. But I know they won‘t let me find the perfect workflow finally. I think I had found it already many years ago in my laptop before the hardware fever got me.
anyway. Sell when you don‘t think you need it. Buy again if you miss it dearly
5 Likes
At the end it comes down to what your goals are as artist. Do you want to ride the trend-wave using the sound all the big names use (while you don’t know if its a trend because they use it, or they use it because its a trend) or are you about to create YOUR art. To make your own art, don’t follow trends.
It’s more fun watching some people dancing to YOUR music, than a few more dancing to you copying anyone else (but might make less money…).
AND… currently they all sell retro-machines. Staying with your stuff should have worked for some people 
3 Likes
Besides the obvious lacking interfacing matters (pads, knobs etc) my main gripe with working on a computer is that I work on a computer 8 hours a day. I don’t want my hobbies to be the same thing, sitting in front of a screen wiggling a mouse. I have enough back problems as it is. The other gripe is that a computer is filled with distractions that take me away from the music making. My mind wonders and suddenly I find myself searching the internet for secondhand 90’s cassettes instead of focusing at the matter on hand.
MPC Live solves both of those problems for me. I can make music for example in my hammock or my rocking chair and leave my phone/tablet/laptop far away from myself. It’s self contained enough to allow me to produce competent sounding stuff with no need for any other gear nearby.
I’m on a social media break at the moment as I do every january and I find it absolutely wonderful. I feel like I have several hours more time in my day. I don’t spend hours on my tablet reading about uninteresting stuff. Instead I’ve played a lot of videogames, watched a lot of movies, read a lot of books etc. Much more satisfying than reading what my old schoolmate whose apparently become a right wing extremist had for dinner today.
I need to take a break from that shit every now and then and for that the MPC Live is very good too.
Nowadays it’s just too damn easy to take a peek at the bloody IMDB in the middle of the movie to see where the actor on screen is familiar from.
9 Likes
3 Likes
THIS. I cut out the news and politics too. Instead of spending my time on that shit, I go and turn on the Octatrack and learn/create/tweak something.
3 Likes
Lol, I am terrible for doing that but I don’t use the net to find out, for there is no glory in this. I just ruin the film as I try to purge the answer from my fractured memory….it gives me a real sense of achievement when I get it though 
2 Likes
I’m going in the opposite direction from people in this thread… frustrated with ITB, CPU issues and instability and never ending tweaking possibilities…
I see developing my hardware setup as time away from using a computer even tho it is more challenging to learn… but I want to enjoy the journey and not see hours spent researching or faffing around with something as a waste.
I’m hoping that ill commit more as I do still think external gear has more immediate presence and ability to sound better faster… when you have an abundance of ITB options to sculpt a sound can make you end up losing the perspective of what you were trying to achieve.
What I do with my gear and all of my assets is list them, their resale price, total asset value so that I don’t feel guilty… these are assets that I will sell if I need to and buy again if I can in the future.
I read this a lot and I always feel the need to comment. the bleeps and bloops thing. Modular can be so much more. some of the most beautiful electronic music I heard was created with modulars. It‘s just another type of instrument.
the synth gas thing is also depending a lot on the music you make. I assume for you a synth is just another instrument that adds some extra color to your song in addition to guitars, bass, vocals. More song oriented, while for other folks, different filter responses are like a religion
2 Likes
Anti-GAS just sounds to me like sensible focus on skills like songwriting, using what you have and actual producing. Which is what one needs to, like, make enjoyable music, I guess.
2 Likes
There is no need to keep up.
In over 30 years of electronic music making:
- I’ve only ever pre-ordered one item (Axoloti, < 100 EUR)
- I’ve only ever bought a handful of items new (when unobtainable otherwise)
99 % of the stuff that’s announced this week will be cheaper, have bugs fixed, be replaced by something better, or be found to be inferior in 5 years’ time. That’s the time to decide whether to buy.
#NAMMuary
27 Likes
I feel like anti ambient guy would have some wise words on the anti gas movement.
6 Likes
Not much GAS for me this NAMM either.
- Making songs
- Playing around with hardware
These are separate hobbies for me nowadays.
Sometimes I’ll record a bit of sound from hardware, but it’s usually something like 1 out of 15 tracks in a song.
Getting some good MIDI controllers and taking the time to plan out mappings can also help tame the GAS for hands-on sound creation devices.
5 Likes